Uruguay

MONTEVIDEO, Dec 1 (NNN-Xinhua) — Uruguay’s President-elect Luis Lacalle Pou on Saturday called for “national unity,” saying that during his presidency beginning March 1, he will not seek “to change one half of the country for another.”

In the first speech after his confirmed narrow win in the presidential runoff on Nov. 24, Lacalle Pou said that the five political parties making up his “multicolor” coalition understood the “popular cry” for a different way to run the country.

MONTEVIDEO, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Uruguay's Electoral Court officially proclaimed Luis Lacalle Pou as the country's president-elect on Saturday, after the final ballot inspection was concluded.

"The president and vice president-elect of the republic for the period of March 1, 2020, to March 1, 2025, are hereby proclaimed as the citizens Mr. Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou and Mrs. Beatriz Argimon Cedeira, respectively," the electoral body announced in a statement.

25 November 2019; AFP: Uruguay's presidential election is too close to call and the result will not be known for several days pending a recount, the South American country's electoral court said late Sunday.

"The court is not going to give a winner tonight," Electoral Court president Jose Arocena told reporters after a night of drama in Montevideo.

MONTEVIDEO, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Argentina's president-elect Alberto Fernandez on Thursday offered future political asylum to Bolivia's ex-President Evo Morales.

Speaking in Uruguay's capital Montevideo, Fernandez said that once he takes office in December, it would be "an honor" to welcome Morales to his country.

Fernandez, who was meeting with Uruguay's President Tabare Vazquez, also extended the offer of asylum to Morales' vice president.

27 October 2019; AFP: Polls opened in Uruguay Sunday with voters electing a successor to leftist President Tabare Vazquez and deciding on constitutional reforms including the establishment of a military police force.

Uruguayans will also be electing all 99 deputies and 30 senators in the Congress.

MONTEVIDEO, Sept 25 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) – Uruguay will withdraw from the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, also known as the Rio Pact, because it is being wrongly used against Venezuela’s government, Uruguayan Foreign Minister, Rodolfo Nin Novoa, said.

The announcement came a day after 16 of the 19 pact members voted to employ the pact to impose sanctions against Venezuela’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, accusing him of criminal activities including drug trafficking and money laundering.

MONTEVIDEO, Aug 8 (NNN-EFE) — The University of Montevideo’s Business School on Wednesday launched a new China-Latin American Studies Center for Trade and Business that will seek, among other things, to be a “power plant of ideas” to improve relations between Latin America and the Asian giant.

The center’s director, Nicolas Santo, spoke with EFE, saying that although the facility will aim to improve overall relations between Latin American and China, the focus will be on Uruguay “to be able to provide added value to (bilateral) trade and investment links.”

07 August 2019; DW: Lacking resources and organization, authorities in Uruguay are struggling to combat global drug trafficking. The country has become an increasingly important hub for drug smugglers as a result.

"Uruguay is not looking too good in this matter," Enrique Canon, head of Uruguay's top customs authority, said after the recent discovery of 600 kilograms (1,300 pounds) of cocaine at a French airport. The illicit shipment came from Uruguay.

MONTEVIDEO, March 23 (Xinhua) -- China and Uruguay vow to work together to promote bilateral ties and deepen cooperation, visiting Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua and Uruguayan Vice President Lucia Topolansky said in a meeting here on Saturday.

Hu conveyed Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan's warm greetings to Topolansky, who is also president of the General Assembly and president of the Senate.

MONTEVIDEO, March 5 (Xinhua) -- In southern Uruguay's Canelones Department, a leading transport company is relying on Chinese technology to renovate and upgrade its bus fleet.

With the help of Chinese bus manufacturer Yutong and its hybrid vehicles, the Pando Omnibus Company S.A. (COPSA) is looking to modernize its service.

"After a period of economic difficulty, we began a fleet renovation plan that we had postponed for four years," COPSA General Manager Javier Cardoso told Xinhua.